Category Archives: 2 Peter

I found this today as I was searching through old journals. I am in awe of how God knows exactly what we need, when we need it. The words in this scripture are painful to read, especially for those of us who KNOW what they mean because we have lived it on this earth. Godly sorrow and repentance then flood our souls as we look upon the face of the person that used to be us. Let the light back in, let healing begin again, and never hold your head down in shame. We are WORTHY, we are LOVED, and we can FIGHT TIL THE END. Tune in and keep watching. This scene is not the whole story.

2 Peter 2:17-22 – These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

I’m about to get bold, but I am not apologizing for it. This is my opinion and how I feel about my OWN walk through addiction recovery. My feelings do not express those of anyone else I know and I commend any and all who are finding their own way out of their depravity. That being said…

I began my recovery process in anonymous rooms, surrounded by tradition and people who claimed over their own spirits on a daily basis that they WERE addicts or alcoholics. It never occurred to me that I could rain down blessings on myself by halting the words, “Hi, my name is Julie, and I AM an addict” and instead proclaiming, “Hi, my name is Julie, I fight from victory, and I am a redeemed and restored child of the Living King, and even when I fall I can STAND because of the mercy and love and grace poured out to me.” I had no God in my life and bringing Him into my atheist home wasn’t an option. If I couldn’t bring Him home, I couldn’t see bringing Him into my heart because it was completely foreign to me.

All I knew of my life before drugs and alchohol was religion, not relationship. My higher power in anonymous rooms then became the rooms themselves. I was religious about that, no doubt. People were staying clean, but so many were still living depraved lives; not all I must add, but some. I was barely escaping from my own hell and I was being led by people who were wrongdoers in their own flesh. I then traded those dark rooms for darker nights on the streets and darker moments in my heart and mind. I was a self-proclaimed addict and would always be one, and the label stuck. Hi, my name is Julie, and I am an …….. NO! Hi, my name is Julie and I am disgustingly human, unapologetically me, and I make mistakes. Don’t we all?

Each relapse sent me careening closer to death in a shorter amount of time each go around. When I found myself under the covering and teaching of Jacob’s Well Ministries, I found a God and a Savior in Christ Jesus that was more than anything I could have ever imagined! The love and peace and knowledge that came flooding into my spirit changed the way I looked at life in general. I escaped the pollutions of the world through full awareness of the saving blood of Jesus, but I still became entangled in my flesh and my condition was worse than before. My heart was a jumbled mess on this last trip to hell and I longed to have never known about the Light of Truth. I had turned back from the Holy commandment given to me and I was broken seemingly beyond repair.

God is faithful and I am grateful for His love that never ends. It is only because of Christ that I am free today. I was a fool, I uttered my own loud boasts from pulpits designed to keep me in bondage. I enticed others to know of a higher power that had long ago been forgotten as Jesus Christ Himself through years upon years of traditions and laws that promised “freedom” without a Savior. His name was hidden behind self-liberty and I was enslaved to 12 steps and self-help.

I desire with all that I am to see other people truly set free, not stuck at a wall that is unseen but very real. The walls CAN be broken only by the wrecking ball of true salvation! No other higher power created by man can ever compare. MY gratitude speaks when I care and share with others the GOSPEL…JESUS AS SAVIOR. Love covers a multitude and there is no greater love.

Proverbs 25:28 – Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

Self-control limits me, just like the high and fortified walls of a city would, but it’s necessary for my defense against the enemy! Follow me here…inside a walled fortress of self-control, I’m NOT free to go out and do whatever I want in order to be “outside the box”. I’m NOT free to make whatever decisions I want believing that tomorrow I will still wake up and still have grace when I’m not even guaranteed tomorrow. I’m NOT free to sin and wait for God to forgive me again. It might not happen. It hurts ME when I walk out of that walled fortress and open myself up to those flaming arrows of the enemy. I set myself up as target practice when I step outside the walled city of my heart. You might as well slap a bull’s eye right to my heart and send me packing!!

I may not be TOTALLY free in a walled city, but I’m under the protection there of my Father! I have the protection and guidance of a KING who rules that city in my heart!! I have a NEW freedom and a NEW spirit and I am perfectly content with the type of freedom I have today. Today it means I am free to live a glorious life without constantly looking over my shoulder! AMEN to that!

You can read Proverbs 25-27 and the wisdom on the pages written by Solomon that stand up to the test of time at www.biblegateway.com. What a testimony to God’s favor and mercy upon us all! Join in the discussion by posting comments or questions below and let’s do this together!! #ReadtheBible #bgbg2 #BibleGateway #newbeginnings #Proverbs

To further your reading, consider this from:

2 Peter 1:5-9 – For this every reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Faith has many results. It stimulates our growth in Christian character, and moral discipline. We are saved by the blood of the Lamb, not so we can sit around and complain, but so we can help others. Our lives should mirror those of Christ and if we are claiming to be saved but not changing our behaviors due to our lack of self-control, then we are in essence forgetting altogether what God has done for us.

Find By Date

There was a time I didn't even know what to believe in other than the lies the enemy told me. I idolized all the wrong things and ended up making excuse after excuse in order to continue to check out of my self-inflicted, painful life that was created out of my own victimization, guilt, shame, remorse, and FEAR.
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
I suffered from several selfish behaviors that had me bound for over 20 years. I suffered in silence and harmed everyone who loved and cared for me. Life as I knew it was a living hell. I was playing roles every moment of every day. I can say I tried, but to me trying means being inactive and complaining about it. I did a lot of that. I was always searching for truth in all the wrong places. And then it happened. He found me!! Jesus picked me up out of my brokenness and the only Being in the universe that has the power to save and the power to transform entered my life. His sacrifice for me allows me to wake up every morning and do everything I can to get it right, to continue to press on even when things are tough, to see the potential in every single thing I touch.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
Today, I sit in victory over satan because of the sacrifice Jesus made for me on the cross. He died in my place so I could be set free!
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
The battle is still raging around me, but I am safe in the storm. I came into the world free and intend to leave the same way. The Lord is using my test as a Testimony to His saving grace and I want to give a voice to those suffering in silence. He is bringing it all back around for His glory! I am Coming Full Circle and this is my journey.